Yahoo! Case Study

Southern States University
BU-524 Strategic Management
FALL 2010
IntroductionHeadquartered in Sunnyvale, California, Yahoo! provides services through via the internet and has offices in more than 25 countries, provinces, or territories. Yahoo! was founded by Jerry Yang and David Filo in 1994, when they created a website intended to keep track of their personal interests on the internet. Yahoo! grew tremendously during the 90’s, and like many search engines and web directories, Yahoo! turned into a Web Portal. It also made many high-profile acquisitions. In 2000, Yahoo! began utilizing Google for search results. By 2004, they had developed their own searching technologies and they’ve also revised their mail service to compete with Google’s Gmail. Yahoo! is the second leading global Internet brand and one of the most trafficked Internet destinations worldwide. Together with its owned and operated online properties and services, it also provides advertising offerings and access to Internet users beyond Yahoo!. The company generates revenues by providing marketing services to advertisers across hundreds of websites. Yahoo! in 2008 had rejected Microsoft’s unsolicited $44.6 billion offer, claiming that it “substantially undervalues” Yahoo! and was not in the interest of its shareholders. But in January 2009, Carol Bartz replaced Jerry Yang as Yahoo!’s CEO and discussions with Microsoft were resumed.

Firm’s existing vision, mission, objectives and strategies The core of Yahoo!’s strategy and operations is to become the starting point for Internet users; to provide must-buy marketing solutions for the world’s largest advertisers; and to deliver industry-leading open platforms that attract developers and publishers. Yahoo!’s vision or/mission statement is “Yahoo! powers and delights our communities of users, advertisers and publishers – all of us united in creating indispensable...